Journal of Economic Methodology 

About: Journal of Economic Methodology is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Economic methodology & Philosophy and economics. It has an ISSN identifier of 1350-178X. Over the lifetime, 751 publications have been published receiving 14893 citations.

Credible worlds: the status of theoretical models in economics

Abstract: Using as examples Akerlof's 'market for ''lemons''' and Schelling's 'checkerboard' model of racial segregation, this paper asks how economists' abstract theoretical models can explain features of the real world It argues that such models are not abstractions from, or simplifications of, the real world They describe counterfactual worlds which the modeller has constructed The gap between model world and real world can be filled only by inductive inference, and we can have more confidence in such inferences, the more credible the model is as an account of what could have been true

Meanings of methodological individualism

Abstract: Advocacy of 'methodological individualism' is widespread, especially among economists. However, the term is rarely defined with adequate precision and some crucial ambiguities are explored in this article. Among these is the commonplace ambivalence over whether explanations should be in terms of individuals alone, or in terms of individuals plus relations between them. It is shown that a great deal hinges on this subtle and often overlooked distinction in explanantia. In particular, explanations in terms of individuals alone have never, as yet, been achieved. Furthermore, the more feasible version of explanations in terms of individuals plus relations between them amounts to the introduction of social structure alongside individuals in the explanantia. Serious questions remain whether this version warrants the one-sided emphasis on individuals in the term 'methodological individualism'.

Artificiality: The tension between internal and external validity in economic experiments

Abstract: The artificiality of a laboratory situation is placed in the context of the tension between external and internal validity. Most economists consider internal validity to be most important. A proper evaluation of the ‘artificiality criticism’ (a lack of external validity) requires distinguishing the various goals experimentalists pursue. External validity is relatively more important for experiments searching for empirical regularities than for theory‐testing experiments. As experimental results are being used more often in the development of new theories, a methodological discussion of their external validity is becoming more important.

Still dead after all these years: interpreting the failure of general equilibrium theory

Abstract: More than 25 years after the discovery that the equilibrium point of a general equilibrium model is not necessarily either unique or stable, there is still a need for an intuitively comprehensible explanation of the reasons for this discovery. Recent accounts identify two causes of the finding of instability: the inherent difficulties of aggregation, and the individualistic model of consumer behaviour. The mathematical dead end reached by general equilibrium analysis is not due to obscure or esoteric aspects of the model, but rather arises from intentional design features, present in neoclassical theory since its beginnings. Modification of economic theory to overcome these underlying problems will require a new model of consumer choice, nonlinear analyses of social interactions, and recognition of the central role of institutional and social constraints.

Models are experiments, experiments are models

Abstract: A model is a representation of something beyond itself in the sense of being used as a representative of that something, and in prompting questions of resemblance between the model and that something. Models are substitute systems that are directly examined in order to indirectly acquire information about their target systems. An experiment is an arrangement seeking to isolate a fragment of the world by controlling for causally relevant things outside that fragment. It is suggested that many theoretical models are (‘thought’) experiments, and that many ordinary experiments are (‘material’) models. The major difference between the two is that the controls effecting the required isolation are based on material manipulations in one case, and on assumptions in the other.